Stay Strong, Rodney
by Leesa Perrie
Summary: Missing scenes and tag for Reunion, with Teyla and Rodney.


**Stay Strong, Rodney**

**by Leesa Perrie**

_Missing scenes and tag to Reunion, Season 4._

_For ed263. Her prompt was: "I really just would love any story featuring Rodney and Teyla with some Team thrown in. I so loved the line in Reunion where Rodney is taken away and Teyla calls out to him, "Stay strong, Rodney" and Rodney replies, "I'll try"."_

_

* * *

_Helpless as Rodney was dragged away, all Teyla could do was encourage him to stay strong and hope that he would survive whatever the Wraith wanted of him. His reply, 'I'll try,' had felt so bleak, so hopeless, and yet she knew he would be strong; far stronger than he thought himself capable of.

Kneeling to check on John, there was little else to do but wait and try not to worry.

As impossible as she knew that was.

Sighing, she sat back. Rodney was brave, she reminded herself. He might not seem it at times, but she had seen him rise to the occasion over and over again. And he was clever. She hoped that was why the Wraith had taken him, for his knowledge, because then he would stall, knowing that sooner or later Colonel Carter would send a rescue team, or maybe even find a way for them to escape. If the Wraith saw him as a weak link… Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply, not letting herself go there.

Whatever was happening to him, they would deal with it later. Once they were free and safe. She reminded herself again that he was strong and he would survive, no matter what. His team would make sure of it.

Forcing her thoughts away from Rodney's fate, her mind merely skipped to another worry; that Ronon was not here with them. She refused to believe that he was dead. More likely, he had escaped and would bring back rescue.

Did he know that his friends were Wraith worshippers? That they had betrayed him? Knowing how deeply the betrayal would run with Ronon, she wished there was a way to spare him that. But he would have to know, either now or later, and she would need to be ready to help him with his anger and pain.

At least he would remain with them now, or she hoped he would. A part of her would be relieved if he stayed, not wishing to lose a good friend. She could understand Ronon's dilemma, being torn between his old and new teams. It was still hard for her to be away from her people and there were times when she wished to rejoin them, and yet she had family on Atlantis now, not by blood but by bonds of deep friendship. She understood his decision to go with them, even though it had pained her, and she would understand his pain at their betrayal, if they survived this.

As John began to stir, she forced her mind away from negative thoughts and fears, concentrating instead on how they might escape.

Because they would get out of here, all of them, alive.

* * *

No, no, no, no, no, no, this wasn't good. This wasn't even the slightest bit good.

Well, okay, they hadn't fed on him or tortured him, nor Teyla or Sheppard. At least, not yet. But other than that, this was so bad. Really, really, terribly bad. He had to try and stall in the hope that Atlantis would send a rescue team soon. And then hope that the rescue team could get them out, as well as hoping that Ronon was still alive and not killed by his former friends.

Hope wasn't his strong point.

Nor was staying strong.

Teyla's words echoed in his mind. Stay strong, she'd said, and he'd said that he would try, so he'd better damn well try, hadn't he?

Okay, focus on the codes. Maybe he could learn something from them while he ignored the problem he was supposed to be fixing. Though should he ignore it? What if Atlantis wasn't able to rescue them? Crap, could he stand by and let the Wraith kill Sheppard and Teyla? And what would the Wraith do to him? Would they torture him? Would they torture Sheppard and Teyla and not just kill them?

But he couldn't do this, even if it cost them their lives, cost him his own. Despite the horror at the thought of his friends' torture or demise and the terror of what might happen to him, he knew he couldn't give the Wraith what they wanted. Too many lives depended on the Replicators wiping out them out.

Just to think, earlier today he'd thought he was the new leader of Atlantis and had been relishing the chance to potentially decide the fate of the galaxy. Damn, did he _really_ want that responsibility? He could certainly do without it right now, because if they weren't rescued…

He forced his mind away from that, his imagination far too accomplished at showing him the worst possible outcomes in any give situation. Instead, he tried to concentrate on other things, like the code, but it didn't really work. If only he knew where Ronon was. Maybe he was here, looking for them, looking for him. Or maybe he'd gone back to Atlantis to get help, like he himself had intended to do before being stunned by those traitors.

Oh crap, how was Ronon going to handle that, if he was still alive, if he knew? It'd be like Sheppard and Teyla betraying him to the Wraith or Replicators. It was beyond his imagination; except it wasn't, not really. There were those nightmares he never told anyone about, the ones where he was betrayed by all those he held dear.

They were just dreams, and dreams didn't count.

He didn't know how he coped if they became reality, but he knew they wouldn't, because his team wouldn't betray him, not willingly. Even Ford had only done that because of the enzyme, and he knew from personal experience how that could mess you up.

Damn, he needed to focus on what he was doing. Though how he was supposed to do that with a Replicator looking at him he didn't know.

He had to try. He'd said that he would try, so he would.

Turning to his PC tablet, he tried again to clear his mind of the fear and worry. If he had to stall them, then he had to make it look convincing. Which meant he had to concentrate and not get distracted by his fear.

He'd promised to stay strong, and somehow, he would.

* * *

Teyla left Ronon's quarters, wishing there was some way to take away the pain he was feeling, while knowing that there wasn't. But he was strong and would recover from this most bitter of betrayals with the help of his team, his family.

Walking to the mess hall, she could hear the sounds of the party John had organised. A 'welcome home' party for Ronon, even though he had never truly left them. Smiling, she shook her head. Any excuse for a party was grabbed with both hands here on Atlantis. Besides, what better way was there for John to say how much he would have missed Ronon, without actually having to say the words?

She hoped Ronon would join them later, but doubted that he would.

Entering the mess hall, she manoeuvred her way around tables and people, heading out onto the balcony area. It seemed that the party had remained inside, the balcony empty except for one lone figure, a PC tablet by his side as he toyed with his food. Rodney didn't like Atlantis parties all that much, claiming the crowded mess hall made him claustrophobic and that the noise level gave him migraines. Though she had noted that he always got his fair share of the food, like he had today. More than his fair share really, but she wasn't going to bring that up. After the day they'd had, he deserved to find some comfort in food.

"Rodney," she said lightly, alerting him to her presence.

"Um," he looked up from the tablet in surprise. "Oh, hi."

She sat opposite him, liberating one of the three muffins off his plate.

"Hey!"

"You have enough to spare," she pointed out calmly, her lips quirking in a small smile.

"Humph. I expect that from Sheppard or Ronon, not from you."

"Clearly they have corrupted me."

"Yes, clearly they have," he muttered.

"I have come back from seeing Ronon. He appears to be handling things well, but he is hurting."

Rodney looked uncomfortable with the conversation, fidgeting in his seat and not meeting her eyes. She sighed. The men on her team were terrible at dealing with emotions; all reacting in their own way and yet each of them equally as bad as the other.

"Did you take the painting back?" he asked finally, taking a bite of food.

"Yes."

"How pissed was he that I took it?"

She thought for a moment, head cocked to one side. "I believe it would be wise to avoid training sessions with him for a short while."

"Oh, right. Good thought," he said, looking worried. "No training sessions, I can do that."

"I think it would help if you told him that you took it as a remembrance of him. That was the reason, was it not?"

"What? Of course not! As if I'd need something to remember him by," Rodney snapped, crossing his arms and scowling.

"Then it was because you liked it?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in forced surprise.

"Um, well. Maybe?" he answered her, looking ruffled and eyes shifting nervously. She smiled to herself, knowing she had caught him out, but decided not to dwell on it. Enough that they both knew she was right.

"I am sure that Ronon will not hold it against you for long," she reassured him.

"Yes, well, hopefully."

"He does not hold grudges against his friends for long." Unlike some, she thought. Though she refrained from saying that, changing the subject instead. "What are you working on?"

"Updating the gate protocols."

"Explain it to me."

He looked at her in surprise, but then he nodded and started to explain. In intricate detail.

The End


End file.
